Live Spain. Navarre

Meeting up during Christmas is a classic move for Patrimonio para Jòvenes. This time, it has taken place at San Martín de Unx. Very close to the town of Ujué, it is almost like going back to the start of our year’s journey. Walking around its streets, visiting the Church of de San Martín de Tours in the highest part of the town, and having a drink with a great conversation, among many things, about the new activities we want to make this 2018. That was our morning.

Reflections

This visit, despite its simplicity, had some complex moments. One of them, was the age – mixture. It is a delight- even a need I would say – to get a bigger and younger public interested in art. But having high school students right next to professionals with a 15-year gap demands a speech with a different pace and different perspectives. How do you face this challenge? With the great attitude of all our attendants, because in the end, experience grants you with empathy.

Another complex challenge: Making our guide Javier understand that our visits do not have a fixed content with a monologue used for any visitor of the church. With all his good intentions and used to manage the guided tours around San Martín de Tours, he gave great but a little too long explanations for our people. In a moment, he realized how we work and he let me continue the guided visit. I thanked him for that generosity, and I still do.

Living and feeling heritage is very different to listening to a technical and chronological explanation about a place. However, this long, detailed technical visits are absolutely essential for professionals, Art and History students, and for anyone who wants to go deep into their passion for art.

Patrimonio para jóvenes’ main goa lis to awake interest and curiosity in those who lack of it. Said this, the visits have to maintain their own dynamic. It’s necessary to allow the attendants to relate what they are seeing with thing they have seen. By the way, didn`t the crypt of San Martín de Tours remind you of the crypt at San Salvador de Gallipienzo? I let the kids talk about this. They made their own interpretations in front of the gorgeous baptism fountain at San Martín de Unx. Afterwards, Javier explained all the iconographic program. Once again, we had to stop him, “About iconography….” He asks. What is iconography?” That was the only way we could keep going.

Talking About the Crypt

It was probably one of the most joyful moments, when we visited the crypt. It gave us an ambiguous feeling: on one hand, amazement by seeing a small space that not only helps to maintain the base of the church but also transports us to ancient times. “It`s like being in a movie” someone noted. On the other hand, the immaculate white of the restoration, couldn`t hide some polychromy remains that leave us thinking “this crypt looks so new…”

We are always delighted by the access to these places, for how inspiring they are. I invite you to check out the video El patrimonio tiene vida, by Clara Frago. In this video, the crypt San Salvador de Gallipienzo, creates a magic atmosphere.

A Raffle

We have many raffles and contests along the year. And we thought that the day before King`s Day was the perfect day for something like this. So during this visit, we raffled a night with breakfast included for two people at the Hotel Heredad Beragu ).

Here, you can see me during the moment of the raffle, under the view of our guide, Javier on the background.

The bag was full of little blank paper pieces. Only one had “Heredad Beragu” written on it. Who got that piece of paper, was the winner, and it was Marta Castaño. Look how happy she looks.

A Bit of humor

Walking, running for the younger ones, was right next to our snack time the last stage of our visit. Featuring cats.

The youngest of us were focused on running up and down the streets, playing hide and seek with the cats. These village cats, catch them if you can! And among the oldest of our attendants… lets let images speak for themselves, since one picture is worth a thousand words.

“What a pretty town, I`ve never been here before” or “What a blast we`ve had today”. These words let me say “mission accomplished”, or at least, the first mission of this year.

After a Walk, a New Idea

It is something that usually happens at Patrimonio para Jóvenes. And this time, it happens again. It was a nice June afternoon. It was the beginning of summer. We went to Urroz Villa, a little village not far away from Pamplona. It’s well known by its winter craft fair, its big square (one of the biggest in Navarra), the church and its important altarpiece. And of course, a great landscape.

There, we met the “librero de Urroz”, not a normal bookseller. He works with old books and his house has a kind of magic atmosphere, as if its rooms and spaces have been imbued by the stories from his books. We spent there a couple of hours. Everybody was so excited with everything around.

So we decided to prepare a collaborative activity for October, far away October … Was it???

Characters with Books at the Urroz Altarpiece

October arrived and here is our activity. At the house of the “Librero de Urroz” or Books with History (Libros con Historia) adults had an informal chat about art and books. A quiet atmosphere that nothing had to do with the color, hustle and bustle we had at the atrium with our paintings about the altarpiece.

First, children went inside the church and looked carefully at all the scenes and characters. It is not easy to understand and read and altarpiece. So, they need some help. How many people can you see? How many are holding books? How are they? If you don’t know, can you imagine or share your idea? What kind of book are these people reading or holding at their hands?

They also could look at the altarpiece with binoculars.

Learning from Children’s Answers

In these activities, one of the goals is to listen to the people, in this case, to the children. We listen to them to help them fight the fear of making a fool of themselves. They need to feel comfortable while chatting, and to learn without any discomfort if any answer was wrong. Make them realize that heir point of view is always appreciated.

Acknowledgements

Thanks a lot to the “Librero de Urroz”, to the major of Urroz Villa, as well as the parish of La Asunción. Thanks to all the families who came with their children to join us.

The beginning: A Christmas morning

Last January, we traveled to Vitoria. It was a cold, nice morning and we had a lot of fun. We visited the New Cathedral of Vitoria, The Fine Arts Museum, and some people even went to practice a little ice skating.

We also discovered three people. They were going to become very close friends to the team of Patrimonio para Jóvenes. The Bishop from Navarra, Cadena Eleta, and the architects Julian Apraiz and Javier Luque.

The idea

The Bishop Eleta from Navarra and the buildings made by Apraiz (some of them with Luque) are all around this area. Not far away from us.

The students María Oderiz and Marta Aparicio earned the scholarship to prepare about this interesting topic. After this, they had to present their investigation to the members of Patrimonio.

Here you have a little abstract, especially with pictures about this story.

First, Pitillas

It´s a small village in Navarra. There is a little museum with some of the belongings from Cadena Eleta. He donated them to his village.

There is also this house, called “the Bishop´s house”. But actually, it was never his property. It was his sister’s house. Her name was Margarita (Daisy) and this is the reason for what you can see painted daisies on the roof . (By the way, done in a stunning ceramic).

Bilbao :

We went from a small village to a big city as Bilbao. There, in one of the most important streets, Gran Via, Apraiz built the “Banco de España” (Spain Bank). In the middle of the financial area of Bilbao, it is a building whose decoration reminds us of classical antiquity.

The inside has suffered many transformations according to the times. Anyway it has the smart, majestic and cool atmosphere from the beginning of the 20th century.

It’s amazing to discover its big dome made of stained glass. It was made by the Maumejean factory, a French factory of stained glass seen several times at Apraiz’s buildings.

I want to thank all the staff from Banco de España in Bilbao for their attention with us, especially to Ascension, who spent part of the morning with us.

Also thanks to Obra Insignia Company, who helped us with this visit.

I suppose Apraiz was so happy and proud about the result of his job in Bilbao. Check out how ostentatious is his sign on the wall of the main entrance of the bank.

Laguardia

And let’s go again to a village. Now to the area called “Rioja Alavesa” famous because of its wineries. At Laguardia, Apraiz built a hospital. Today we can only see some parts of the building. Today is a secondary school. Anyway, we could see how different is the aesthetic of this building compared to the one of the bank.

The hospital (currently a school) is located in front of a beautiful landscape. Everything thought in order to have a very healthy atmosphere for patients

It’s nice to read from newspapers of these times: The hospital was provided with all the modern advantages (from that time) such as disinfectant treatment for laundry.

Laguardia has also a great artistic heritage, as the “Santa María de los Reyes”. This is what we called “The visualuniverse of Apraiz”.

With this, we want to explain that Apraiz visited himself very artistic and historical places. He knew the Gothic, before going to the “ Neo-gothic”.

Burgos :

In this city famous because of its Cathedral and because is on the way of Saint James, Apraiz had also made history.

He took part in the restoration of the large spires of the cathedral. Maria and Marta worked on this issue. They read about what architects did at the beginning of 20 century.

We also visited the new archiepiscopal palace built again with Cadena Eleta, and Apraiz and Luque.

We also thank to the municipal archives of Burgos, who helped us a lot when looking for information and documents.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the family Apraiz who received us in Vitoria at the end of this job. It was so nice to meet his grandson and great grandson. Here they are, with Marta and María.

At Mencos Palace

At the end of September, Marta and Maria gave an informal chat about this trip in Tafalla (Navarra) at the Mencos Palace. Here you have some moments of this day and the very nice meeting we had.

During the summer our association kept in touch with Core, a foundation located in Pamplona, Navarra. The purpose of Core is to help integrate the emigrants in the region of Navarra.

Our proposal was an collaborative activity: a trip together to the famous “Venta de Ulzama” .

What Ventas de Ulzama is:

Along with its beautiful surroundings, it is a typical country house which was built in 1840 by the Town Hall of the Ultzama Valley. Its aim was to host all those tired and hungry travelers that would stop for a rest. Read more here.

Today it is famous for its deserts, Cuajada and Canutillos. There is a kind of custom of going to the Ultzama with family or just with friends for a supper and sweets.

So it was interesting to offer this visit to the cooking class at Core Foundation. It was an occasion to discover landscape, local architecture, and gastronomy. It was an experience of cultural heritage in a very nice way.

We decided that autumn would be a good time for the visit so we went at the beginning of November.

The trip and the supper

It was such a pity that it was raining! Anyway, the half an hour we had from Pamplona to the Ultzama was nice. Children were so excited on the way watching cows, sheep and deer. The colour of the forest and the great smell of wet earth were also a nice experience.

In spite of the rain, everybody enjoyed some time feeding the deer. Though niether me nor Borja could take good photos. It was raining a lot and the water was dangerous for cameras. In any case, here you have an example.

Inside the restaurant we test first the Cuajada.

The Cuajada is a dairy product made of ewe’s milk. Inma, the lady in charge of the Venta de Ultzama explained to everybody in a very friendly and simple way the recipe and the origin of this dessert.

We also tasted Canutillos, with a delicious custard cream. During the supper we had the opportunity to talk each other and get to know about the countries that everyone was from.

During this week, the people who attended the cooking course at Core are going to prepare cuajada and canutillos by themselves. Here you have the team at Core Foundation

At Patrimonio para Jovenes, we had the job to introduce to our gastronomy, customs, and culture to all these new friends who have arrived to Navarra.

And this bring us to the end of the blog until January. Have a good Christmas Holiday!

What does the word horreo mean?

It is a word well known in some regions of Spain such as Asturiasand Galicia which, being located in the north, are very humid areas. Long ago, the horreo was utilized to keep food preserved from humidity and animals, especially, mice

In the region of Navarra there are some horreos as well. Nowadays, we can visit 22 of them but some years ago there even were more. Modern times, new ways of living, and emigration from villages to cities has resulted in the destruction of some horreos.

In the 70s, they began to be preserved as rural heritage. In Navarra, they are most commonly found in Valle de Aezkoa.

The horreos that we visited

We haven’t visited Valle de Aezkoa yet. But we did visit some very interesting horreos.

The first one, is the oldest in Navarra: The Hórreo of Iracheta. From the XI century, it is the one farthest along the Pyranees area. It is in the area called “Valdorba.” It is an area with a very rich heritage, interesting romanesque art, and very cute villages plus it is located not far from Pamplona.

The Hórreo of Iracheta is made of stone, it is big and impressive. We used it for a great video and photo session with Borja Centenera and Clara Frago.

It was a sunny day of the beginning of June, a great day for shooting, and for a very nice talk about old constructions as well.

And at the beginning of September we went to the Valley of Urraul Alto. This is an area of Navarra full of beauty. Today it is almost depopulated and very unknown. Being interesting and unknown are two great reasons for the team of Patrimonio para jóvenes to go for a visit.

This horreo was the first one some people from the Americas had seen in their life. We also visited the interior of the Conjunto, the cloister and the church. Some people even had the pleasure of climbing the bell tower

During this visit I announced another one: our workshop about old clothes apropos of the altarpiece of St Julian of Ororbia. This will be the topic of the next blog post. Have a nice week and visit Navarra at least online!

If you want to find information that is very new, specific , and so on, this website is not the right one for you. If you want to visit Gallipienzo , a stunning village in Navarra , here you have some interesting links, and the tourist office for a guided visit. And for more..try look for Gallipienzo on google and you’ll see how much information you can find.

THE ART AS AN EXPERIENCE FOR TEENAGERS

If you want to know about the experience of a team of teenagers who got to explore this place, you are on the right website.

This visit took place at the beginning of last June. During the summer I don’t write on the blog and given that we’ve had so many activities, I have not had much time for writing…but little by little, here we are!

He talked about the history of Gallipienzo, why the people who were living there had to move and begin to live at “Gallipienzo Nuevo”- we were visiting Gallipienzo Viejo (Old Gallipienzo) . He even explained the criteria for restoration of a bulilding. If you are someone reading this in Europe, it is not such an unusual topic but perhaps it is if you are from States.

The history of Sapin and its heritage is tremendous. That means is very difficult and also so expensive to haver everything in good condition. So many times hard decisions must be made.

INSIDE OLD TIMES

José Luis talks in a very sweet way, as a person who is used to working with measure and proportion. He is so friendly that everybldy felt as if they had known José Luis for a long time. It was really funny when Victor, a boy of 16 years, dedicated his first novel to Mr. Franchez. Here you can see the photo

Guided by José Luis, we discovered the secrets of the church of San Salvador plus we got to experience the light, the silence and the magnitude of a medieval building.

At the end, “Patrimonio para jóvenes” gave a present to David and Victor. Now the two of them are in States and Canada. They received a book about the Gotic Art in Navarra

I hope they can read this post in America as they work as “ambassadors of Spain”

We finished the excursion eating a typical Spanish dessert, “torrijas” made of bread, egg, olive oil, sugar and ground cinnamon. It is such a pity that I don’t have any photo of this. Borja Centenera and Clara Frago the people in charge of photos and video, were eating with the other people. It’s not easy to eat and hold a camera at the same time!

If you come to Navarra , discover the little and hidden villages of this region!

Forget about the motorways, forget about being in a hurry and try some little villages of Spain. Today we visited Genevilla, with no more than one hundred people living in it. It falls close to the regions of Alava and La Rioja where you can enjoy beautiful landscapes and more: you can discover an stunning Renaissance altarpiece. Not only does it have the usual scenes such as these from the gospel but mythological scenes as well.

A few days before our excursion, Borja went ahead of time in order to be able to give us all the useful information about the way, and to meet the priest and people in charge of take care of the small church as well as other people from the village. What a nice experience Borja had! To meet people in their land and with their heritage, is all part of our project, Patrimonio para jovenes ( Heritage for youth )

The whole team was provided with an outline of the altarpiece drawn and explained, so that everyone could observe better and ask questions about it.

They were asked what the scene they liked best and why .In general, people chose the group of apostles on the botton of the altarpiece. One boy said the scene of the martyrdom of St Stephen was the best one for him. Them he was asked for the reasons for his choice.

One great moment was when the kids could touch the sculpture of the Eternal Father.It was a very big sculpture at the top of the altarpiece. Due to the risk of it falling, it was put in the sacristy. So they were amazed to see each detail of the sculpture so close to them.

Another “wow moment” was when Chrissy from Rhode Island came up to the bell tower and got to experience the space while climbing and enjoy the views! Here you have the photo dear Chrissy!

After visiting the St Stephen Church, we went to have lunch in the cute garden of a rural house called “The Encinedo” owed by Mari Asun. She was so kind to also guide us to a great area by the river, from where you can see Genevilla

Before coming to Pamplona we went to Santa María de Los Arcos, a very well known church because it is in an important place on the way of St James. All the baroque, the scenery, the colour, the theatricality and magnificence create emotions for the spectator. Last year I also wrote another post on this website. If you are interested you can check it out for more details.

For the session I‘ve chosen some masterpieces with two criteria: one being the importance of the masterpiece itself and the other the grade of difficulty in taking the picture. (I had to keep in mind that none of the young people on the team had much photography experience).First we visited the tomb of Carlos III the Noble King and his wife, Leonor; the faces, the vestments, ornaments and the special tearful entourage on the bottom of the tomb. The session was conducted by Professor Juan Cañada, who explained the lighting of this place and how to deal with lights, shadows and colours.

After trying with that, we went to the altarpiece of St. Thomas, made of wood and with poly-chrome painting. Full frame, detail, and difficulties with perspective and brightness were some points explained here.

We also shot small details and it was enchanting when each one of us discovered the elegance and preciosity of each character on the altarpiece. Individual faces, clothing, landscape and colours were discovered again for each camera with the unique point of view of each person. Here you have some of mine.

Speaking of the cloister, I must say that the cloister of Pamplona’s Cathedral needs a post just for itself. Its importance in the History of Gothic of Art has not been taken for granted and can not be visited in a rush.
So we took pictures only in some parts. As a “Puerta del Amparo” a representation of the death of the Virgin Mary with apostles, angels… a tympanum full of colour and people was in some ways easy to be shot.

In some ways… but not in my experience, I took a very bad one, so here you have a picture of this tympanum from Panoramio

The next point was the Barbazana Chapel where one of the most interesting things is its vault . Here the problem had nothing to do with light but with distance . We also put attention on the corbels .

To finish this session we went into the Exhibition“Occidens”only to visit a small piece but great in terms of beauty: the stunning silversmith reliquary of Saint Sepulcher. A piece we suggested that the museum direction move from its place of exhibition. It deserved to be better seen by the visitors. Another place with different light would be much appreciated. Here you have the picture we took and a picture from a picture where you can appreciate the filigree on the hair of the angel.

A cold winter Saturday evening, a charming bookshop, a historical novel and its writer in our informal conference dinner, could you imagine anything better?

Luis Zueco is the author of historical novels and the person in charge of the Castle of Grisel, a lovely hotel, (previously a castle) in the region of Aragon, right in an area full of heritage and well worth visiting.

He came to join us for a talk about his last novel “El Castillo” (The Castle), the story of the construction of the Castle of Loarre, one of the most beautiful castles you can visit in Spain

It is amazing, superb, incredible to find something like this built almost one thousand years ago. The novel bring us the opportunity to think and reflect about the people who lived the adventure of the construction, the dangers, hopes, difficulties, fears and so on. We listened to Luis Zueco talk about castles in Spain, the castle in the novel and the challenge of finding the characters; especially because it is necessary consider that they have to think and behave as people one thousand years ago. Quite a complicated task!

Anyway, we were enchanted with the tale as well as with the castle.

We came to the Castle of Loarre with some of the Patrimonio Para Jovenes team some time ago, but we are going to come back again when good weather and longer days arrive.

Thanks a lot to Luis Zueco who wanted to come to Pamplona when I asked him about it, and thanks to Dani Rosino, the owner of the Bookshop“Walden” a place built with the concept of beauty, simplicity; deep, and peaceful as a forest. Check out its web and visit the shop if you are coming to Pamplona. It is located in the city center, not far away from the famous “Plaza de Toros”.

And… by the way, El Castillo is not translated to English but in any case if you come to Spain, don’t forget to visit the Castle of Loarre, a Castle in Aragon, but with a history bound toNavarra.

Perhaps one of the problems in Spain regarding cultural, artistic and historical heritage is its profusion. But… is it possible or positive to say that a country has too much history? Probably not.

The problem is how to manage all these things we have. How should it be restored? When and what? In Spain we have bridges, castles, walls… in danger of disappearing for ever. Why? Because there is not enough time, or money, or no way to do so…

On the other hand, you have beautiful places to enjoy, they seem as if they were made for a wonderful film… or tale; in fact, they are part of the tale of Spain’s History. Check out the web Spain is Culture …

But when a ruin, some interesting place has made it until today, the government gives aid in order to take care of that place but … nobody knows it?

Well, I can’t say “nobody”, but almost when talking about the “Despoblado de Rada”, the uninhabited place of Rada; a fortress just on the top of a cliff. The ruins are very well explained in a brochure that you are provided when buying the ticket, (2 euros, only 2 euros and only one if you are more than ten people). You can also enjoy the view of a beautiful landscape. You can imagine what life was like for people during the old times, there on the top. This visit is easy when you have nice weather. During our excursion we discussed how to better promote and communicate heritage, because culture doesn’t always imply expensive. Sometimes it seems like it doesn’t exist.

Close to this place, there is the charming hermitage of the Virgen del Soto. An example of popular and rural Baroque Art. This is not the most important example of this type art, but it is certainly intriguing and has great effect of theatricality.

Scenes from the Old an New Testament are represented on the top, with a beautiful dome. The sculpture of the Virgin Mary is very interesting. But what really attracted everybody’s attention was the representation of allegories such as Envy: a lady with snakes for hair, meaning that an envious person has terrible thoughts that harm all their relationships. The allegories of Peace and Devotion were also represented in contrast with vice.

Around this hermitage there is a nice park to enjoy especially in spring .